San Benito County Sheriff Links Inmate's Escape to Understaffing

Amid the wait for answers about an inmate's escape from the San Benito County Jail, Sheriff Eric Taylor suggests understaffing could have played a role.

“I'm not saying or trying to imply that staffing levels led to his escape, but I'm not ruling out that possibility. It's a factual statement that we have one person monitoring two facilities. C “It's a problem I've had at the county working for a while,” Taylor said.

His statement comes as the San Benito County Jail launches an internal investigation led by a third-party contractor paid by the Sheriff's Department.

“I'm trying to approach this with an open mind because we're beginning this investigation today,” Taylor said Wednesday afternoon. “I am concerned that there appears to have been an internal failure of procedures that allowed this person to escape.”

Taylor first addressed the staff shortage during a news conference the day of the inmate's escape, Monday.

“I don’t want to excuse anyone, but we also have to point out the obvious: We are short of resources here,” he said.

That statement didn't sit well with some San Benito County supervisors.

“It's particularly frustrating. We had an escaped inmate at the prison. There are a lot of questions immediately about how this happened, and there may have been negligence, there may have been problems And somehow the narrative shifted to personal,” said Supervisor Kollin Kosmicki.

“We can talk about personnel at some point. We can have that conversation, but that's not what we should be talking about right now. Someone escaped from prison. So we need to focus on the way this happened,” said Supervisor Dom Zanger. .

This isn't the first time Taylor has brought up personnel issues as he asks the Board of Supervisors to create new positions during a special meeting to discuss the next financial budget.

“I know it’s a big ask, but we really need it,” Taylor told supervisors during a budget meeting on May 14, about two weeks before the inmate’s escape.

Taylor is calling for 12 additional administrative positions to be created at the prison to support correctional officers who are stretched thin. It also calls for three additional sheriff's patrol positions to be added. All of this would cost the county an additional $1,624,329.

“Between 45 and 50 percent of [correctional officer’s] the daily tasks of a 12-hour shift are spent on administrative tasks. So not only would it put more officers on the ground to maintain security at our facilities, but it would also allow them to be a little more proactive in ensuring the safety of our facilities,” said Undersheriff Tom Keylon to supervisors.

During a tense exchange at the budget meeting, Supervisor Kosmiki questioned Taylor about his “commitment to not requesting new positions,” which the sheriff said was untrue.

The prison currently has 8 vacancies and has approximately 24 employees, according to Taylor.

One person is in the control room monitoring security, but Taylor says he needs two.

“I think before we talk about adding funded positions, we should focus on filling the vacancies that are there. He needs to fill those positions before he tries to get more,” Zanger said.

“I just don’t think public safety has been a priority,” Taylor said.